Return of Malawi songbird Tigris: Sings for struggling single mums

Probably the most dominant diva, Tigris has made a remarkable contribution in showbiz from being a radio personality, an E-Wallet music competition judge to a singer having being featured on one of Malawi’s classic rap songs “Anankabango” by Young Kay.

Angela ‘Tigris’ Mizinga

The singer, born Angela Mizinga and also known as Empress Tigris, had a successful solo music career between 2009 and 2012, releasing two albums “Gimme a Break” and “Dreams”.

Tigris was nominated for Best Female Artist and Best Afro Pop Artist in the 2011 Malawian Music Awards, and it was the same year which saw her expanding her fan base across Africa when she performed at the Big Brother Africa Amplified eviction show alongside Maskal.

When Malawi had hope in the singer, who was the dominant female urban music artist, Tigris stopped recording and went MIA in the music circles after giving birth to her first born child, although she attempted a comeback but struggled to beat the record she had set years earlier.

She went on to release a couple of singles, including “Mphatso”, which she wrote and recorded during her second pregnancy in 2014, before she went soundless again, until recently when she started appearing at shows as a back-up artist for rapper Gwamba.

“I took a break from mainstream music because I wanted to spend more time with my new born baby and his father as doing music keeps me busy. There is the issue of studio, band rehearsal, gigs etc.

“I thought it was only fair that I take a two year break to spend more time with my family at least until my son was a bit older so that by the time I want to do music again, I don’t get separation anxiety,” she explained the reason behind her break.

Tigris said in an interview: “I got this song that I wrote in January 2013 and I kept it till the time was right. It is the first single to release after close to two years and that was just to let my audience know that am coming back.”

The singer, who has also worked for radio as presenter at Capital FM, MBC Radio 2 and Galaxy FM, further disclosed that she was changing her music touch.

A couple of weeks ago, she released a comeback emotional song titled “I Need An Angel”, a song that talks about a struggling single mother. She is yet to start promoting the track, which is available for listening below.

“I’m changing my music ‘look’ if I can call it that. I have written songs that talk about life, struggles, time, or maybe to just say ‘conscious music’. This is where I address real issues about life for everyone, a single parent, struggling parents, rebellious children, love issues, street children and young mothers among others.

“I have never really had a specific kind of music that I do. I mean I have done reggae, rock, pop, afro soul, acoustic, a bit of jazz, etc, and I can’t really say I have a specific genre for my next album either.

“But maybe I can best describe it as ‘conscious music’ where there is afro soul, lovers rock, R&B, and just so much more,” elaborated the singer who started off her music career as a conscious reggae-dancehall artist in the early 2000s.

In the song “I Need An Angel”, the singer-songwriter is heard singing, “Am looking for an angel, am searching for an answer/Lord I need a break, can’t keep living like this no more…”

“Hearing this song, they will know what I mean by changing the look. I have matured in both my music and my vocals so I am bringing fireworks this year,” said the optimistic Tigris.–Additional reporting Kimpho Loka

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2 thoughts on “Return of Malawi songbird Tigris: Sings for struggling single mums”

clearly the writer of the story does not know the meaning of a successful album…which album of hers was success?it looks like she wants to join the bushiri band wagon by adding some gospel here and there but lets be true to our readers…tigris is irrelevant and has been for a long time now…kodi mesa anakwatila ndi mzungu?